La Cañada Flintridge is a small and affluent city in Los Angeles County, California, United States whose population at the 2010 census was 20,246, down from 20,318 at the 2000 census. Part of the name for La Cañada Flintridge comes from the Spanish word cañada, meaning canyon, gorge, ravine. According to Forbes, as of 2010, La Cañada Flintridge ranks as the 143rd most expensive U.S. city to live in, with a median home price of $1,321,367.

La Cañada Flintridge is only 20 minutes away from downtown Los Angeles. But it has a small town atmosphere, with tree-lined streets and rolling lawns of spacious estates, and the San Gabriel Mountains providing a dramatic backdrop, the city represents the best of California living.

La Cañada Flintridge’s census statistics and demographics can be found on this page.

Municipal parks include Memorial Park on Foothill Boulevard at La Cañada Blvd.; Glenola Park on Angeles Crest Highway at Vista del Valle; Glenhaven Park on Glenhaven Drive at La Granada Way; Mayors’ Discovery Park on Foothill Boulevard west of the 2 Freeway on-ramp; and Olberz Park at the La Cañada Flintridge Town Center. These parks provide green space and play opportunities for adults and children.

There are several hiking and riding trails in the City, maintained either by the City or the County of Los Angeles. The City Council has placed a priority on increasing the trail system and vital links in the system are being planned and constructed.

The La Cañada Flintridge OneCityOneBook Committee selects a single book each year for community reading and discussion. Seeking works with broad community appeal, they choose primarily from fiction, memoir and history. Activities surrounding the selection are held in October of each year. The website also includes handy directories to local book clubs and bookstores.

La Cañada Flintridge Schools
La Cañada Flintridge families are served by a number of exceptional public, private and parochial schools. La Cañada Unified School District was founded in 1885 when the city had only 15 children of school age. Over the years, the District has grown to encompass a high school, a middle school and three elementary schools.

The western 1/6th of the city lies within the Glendale Unified School District, created in 1936. One elementary school, one middle school, one high school, and one science/technology magnet high school serve these La Cañada Flintridge families.

Complementing the area’s public schools are a number of private and parochial schools. Located within a thirty mile radius are over a dozen equally exceptional colleges, universities, and specialty schools. Listed here are all local pre-college schools and institutions. Details here.

Points of Interest
The city is home to NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), which is the primary United States research and development center for the robotic exploration of the solar system.

The first Frisbee golf course is located in the Hahamongna Watershed Park (formerly Oak Grove Park), outside of La Cañada Flintridge and across the street from La Cañada High School.

The La Cañada Town Center opened on Aug. 21, 2008. The $60 million shopping center development at the intersection of Foothill Boulevard and Angeles Crest Highway includes the flagship Sport Chalet store (and the company headquarters next door), a remodeled Taylor’s Steakhouse, and a HomeGoods store, other retailers and eateries.

La Cañada Congregational Church, formerly Church of the Lighted Window, is the city’s oldest church.

La Cañada Flintridge GovernmentLa Cañada Flintridge became a city in 1976. City Council is comprised of five members elected at large to four-year overlapping terms. Annually, the City Council selects one of its members to serve as Mayor, and one member to serve as Mayor Pro-Tem. La Cañada Flintridge became known as the city without a hyphen in its name, demonstrating community unity. There was a local furor when it was learned that a clerk in Sacramento had inadvertently added a hyphen while working on some LCF papers. It took an ordinance to correct the mistake. Never was that to happen again.

Unlike the fellow low population cities Industry and Vernon, there are actual neighborhoods in Irwindale. Irwindale is a full service city, offering police and library services. There is a skate park, a teen center, a senior center, and a public gymnasium. The housing is centered near the southeast corner of Arrow Highway and Irwindale Avenue, with a small tract of housing in the southwest corner of the city near Cypress Avenue.

The Irwindale’s Recreation Department page features information on facilities and rentals, classes and programs, excursions, special events/activities, teen programming, youth/adult sports, school transportation.

Irwindale residents go to unified school districts in Covina, Azusa, Duarte and Baldwin Park and to private high schools in Glendora, La Verne, La Puente and Rosemead. Irwindale is centrally located between Claremont Colleges to the east and Caltech at the west, offering convenient access to these great research institutions, and the City of Hope is right next door in the City of Duarte.

There are also three superb community colleges within a 12 mile radius, including Mt. San Antonio College, Pasadena City College and Rio Hondo Community College, which offer specialized training and other customized services to address specific needs of any business enterprise.

Today Irwindale is undergoing a renaissance, transitioning from a mining-oriented community to a manufacturing and high-tech-based, modern suburban city. This is clearly demonstrated by the completion of the Irwindale Business Center and the arrival of such companies as Charter Communications, LA Times, Iron Mountain and Superior Communications. Irwindale is home to over 700 businesses, including major satellite offices and headquarters for some of the most well-known companies in the nation, such as Ready Pac Produce and MillerCoors Brewing Company.

Situated in the heart of the San Gabriel Valley, there are four major freeways at its borders offering convenient access to all markets in Southern California. The Foothill Freeway (210) extends west to Pasadena and the San Fernando Valley. The Freeway extension to the east was recently opened, providing quick and easy access to the Inland Empire and beyond. The San Gabriel Freeway (605) provides easy access to all points south, and the San Bernardino Freeway (10) offers a direct route into downtown Los Angeles and San Bernardino and Riverside Counties.

Hacienda Heights is an unincorporated area in and below the Puente Hills of the San Gabriel Valley, in Los Angeles County, California, United States. As of the 2010 census, the community had a total population of 54,038, up from 53,122 at the 2000 census.

Hacienda Heights is located in the eastern San Gabriel Valley bordering La Puente and West Covina to the North, Whittier to the West, La Habra Heights to the South, and Rowland Heights to the East along the Pomona Freeway – Route 60. Hacienda Heights is a predominately residential neighborhood.

Hacienda Heights got its current name due to the community being centered around Hacienda Boulevard. Before this the area was known as North Whittier Heights, after its southern neighbor.

Hacienda Heights has the largest Buddhist temple in Southern California – Hsi Lai Temple (meaning “Coming West). The temple sits on 15 acres of land and has a floor area of 102,432 sq ft. The temple’s Ming Dynasty (1368-1644 AD) and Qing Dynasty (1644-1911 AD) architecture is faithful to the traditional style of buildings, Chinese gardens, and statuary of ancient Chinese monasteries. Hsi Lai Temple is a good place to learn Buddhism and Chinese culture for those interested.

For a list of places of worship in Hacienda Heights, check out AreaConnect.com.

There are six parks in Hacienda Heights. There are also plenty of good restaurants. See reviews on Yelp.com.

Glendora is a municipality in Los Angeles County, California, United States, 23 miles east of downtown Los Angeles. As of the 2010 census, the population of Glendora was 50,073.

Glendora lies within the San Gabriel Valley, area code 626. There are portions that are in the area code 909, which is the area code for western San Bernardino County and areas in eastern Los Angeles County, like Claremont. Glendora lies to the west of Azusa and to the east of San Dimas. It has its own police force.

Residences in Glendora range from early 20th century bungalows, to modest ranch style homes, to multi-story configurations, to grand mansions. Glendora’s most expensive neighborhoods contain many large, secluded, estate homes with sweeping views across the San Gabriel Valley to Downtown Los Angeles. These neighborhoods include Morgan Ranch, Gordon Highlands, Bluebird Hill, Silent Ranch, Oakhart Estates, and Easley Canyon Estates, where homes have been listed and sold upwards of $7 million. The Glendora Country Club is a members-only country club with an 18-hole golf course, where membership is by invitation only.

Glendora Unified School District has six elementary schools, two middle schools, two high schools and one adult school. The system is considered one of the best in the state and the country; consistently ranking in the top performing brackets. Private schools in Glendora consist of six private elementary schools and two private high schools.

El Monte is a residential, industrial, and commercial city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. The city’s slogan is “Welcome to Friendly El Monte,” and is historically known as “The End of the Santa Fe Trail.” As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 113,475, down from 115,965 at the 2000 census.

Sitting between the San Gabriel and Rio Hondo Rivers, El Monte was literally an oasis or island in the middle of the dry San Gabriel Valley. Residents claim that anything could be grown here due to the two rivers. Between 1770 and 1830, Spanish soldiers and missionaries often stopped here for respite. They called the area, ‘El Monte,’ which in Spanish means ‘meadow or marsh’ or ‘the wooded place.’

A bit of history
El Monte was incorporated as a municipality in 1912. Between 1933 and 1936, a series of economic programs was implemented in the United States. They were passed by the U.S. Congress during the first term of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The programs were Roosevelt’s responses to the Great Depression, and focused on what historians call the “3 Rs”: Relief, Recovery, and Reform. El Monte became a vital site for the federal Subsistence Homestead project, a Resettlement Administration program that helped relocate qualified struggling urban and rural families to communities planned by the federal government.

El Monte built the Santa Fe Trail Historical Park in 1989, at Valley Blvd and Santa Anita Ave., representing the historical significance of the Santa Fe Trail. The El Monte Historical Museum at 3150 Tyler Avenue, is considered to be one of the best community museums in the state of California.

Living in El Monte
The El Monte City Council has five members. To learn more about its government, parks, recreation and leisure services, including senior citizens clubs, visit its website. For a list of El Monte churches, click here.

The El Monte City School District contains 17 elementary schools: one serving grades K-4, one serving grades K-5, ten serving grades K-6, and six serving grades K-8. The district also administers four Head Start (preschool) sites, which are located at the elementary schools.

The Mountain View School District is a K-8 school district comprising ten elementary schools, one intermediate school, one middle school, an alternative education program for students in grades 5-8, and a Children’s Center and Head Start/ State Preschool program.

The Los Angeles County Department of Health Services operates the Monrovia Health Center in Monrovia, serving El Monte. The El Monte Comprehensive Health and Mammography Center is located on Ramona Blvd. in El Monte. It offers medical and dental services for low-income individuals, but is not an emergency center.

24a City of Duarte - City of Hope - Healthy Living is Childs Play (E) (Photo credit: Kansas Sebastian)

Duarte is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. It is bounded to the north by the San Gabriel Mountains, to the northwest by the cities of Bradbury and Monrovia, to the south by the city of Irwindale, and to the east by the cities of Irwindale and Azusa. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 21,321, down from 21,486 at the 2000 census.

Duarte is located on historic U.S. Route 66 which today follows Huntington Drive through the middle of the city. The town holds a Salute to Route 66 Parade every year on the third weekend in September on Huntington Drive.

Like many of its neighbors, modern Duarte is a bedroom community or a commuter town. The term suggests that residents sleep in these neighborhoods, but normally work elsewhere; it also suggests that these communities have little commercial or industrial activity beyond a small amount of retail, oriented toward serving the residents.

The City of Duarte is geographically isolated from population centers to the east and south due to the San Gabriel River and rock quarry operations in Irwindale and Azusa. Over the past few decades, the city leadership has succeeded in bringing retail development to the western portion of Duarte beginning, notably, with the redevelopment of the Big Sky Drive-in Theater as a shopping plaza with a Gemco superstore (which is now a Target). Later, the city’s obsolete municipal pool (known as Aqualand) and a well known Route-66 diner (known as the “Boulevard Cafe“) were replaced with a Ralphs shopping center. In the early 21st century, Wal-Mart opened on the western edge of the city, as did a CarMax used-car superstore. In 2009, the city welcomed a new mini-shopping center, including a Best Buy, around the site of its Staples store, as well as a Tesco Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market further east at the former Pantry Market site. As of January 2010, a Sonic Drive-In opened in the Target Shopping Center.

The city has a council-manager government with a five-member city council.

The Duarte Unified School District contains five elementary schools (Maxwell, Andres Duarte, Beardslee, Royal Oaks, and Valley View), one junior high school (Northview Intermediate School), one high school (Duarte High School) and one continuation high school (Mt. Olive Alternative High School). There are also at least two private elementary schools.

For parks and recreation, youth and senior activities information, please visit the city’s webpage. AreaConnect.com provides a list of Duarte’s places of worship.

Diamond Bar is a city in eastern Los Angeles County, California. The population was 55,544 at the 2010 census. It is named after the “diamond over a bar” branding iron registered in 1918 by ranch owner Frederick E. Lewis.

Diamond Bar is primarily residential with shopping centers interspersed throughout the city. But Diamond Bar is also a city that border open space, where sharing living space with wildlife is a way of life. Deer, squirrels, raccoons, rattlesnakes, and coyotes are some of the wildlife. These animals provide great wildlife watching opportunities, but residents need to keep a respectful distance and not disturb their normal activities. Wild animals are by nature fearful of humans, but when intentionally or unintentionally given easy access to food and water sources, their behavior changes and they lose the fear. This leads to interactions and potentially conflicts between humans, pets, and wild animals.

When the United States government took over California, Diamond Bar Ranch was one of the largest working cattle ranches in the western U.S. Transamerica Corporation acquired the entire Diamond Bar Ranch in the 1950s for the purpose of developing one of the nation’s first master-planned communities. Transamerica gave the Diamond Bar name to its new community and incorporated the ranch’s familiar diamond and bar cattle brand into various logos (many of which are still in use today). The first houses in this development were built in 1960, adjacent to the future location of the Pomona Freeway, which was built through the area ten years later. The town’s development and population grew extremely quickly after that.

The city was incorporated on April 18, 1989. It is home to the extraordinary and breathtaking Diamond Bar Center, owned and operated by the City of Diamond Bar. It has 14,000 square feet of meeting space and all within minutes of four counties. Diamond Bar has nine parks, a county-owned 178-developed acre, 18-hole golf course, and a privately-owned Little League Field consisting of eight developed acres: four baseball fields (unlighted) and one snack bar. It also has the first hydrogen fueling station built in Southern California, near the South Coast Air Quality Management District (AQMD) building.

You can find more information and resources on Diamond Bar’s official website.

There are four elementary schools, one middle school and one high school in the Pomona Unified School District and five elementary schools, two middle schools and one high school in the Walnut Unified School District available to residents of Diamond Bar. For more information about the schools, please go to this webpage. For more information, please visit their webpage.